November 2005

It's the last third of November, and I'm sitting here in Clearwater, Florida in sunny 70 degree weather. It's the third day of the 3^rd annual Florida Pirate Festival, with its gorgeous view of Tampa Bay, and we are looking forward to a relaxing day of performing for some of our dearest friends and hometown fans.

I'm sitting backstage with Bunnies In Peril. We're lounging in their private greenroom, shooting the shit while I work on my journal and enjoy the luxury of the library next door's strong wifi signal. We've worked with the 'bunny people' before in while Florida, and have even had the pleasure of spending a day or three with them at each of Disney's magical kingdoms located oh-so close by in Orlando. If you haven't seen B.I.P., they do this wacky thing where they stuff a live rabbit into a small cannon and fire it. Nothing says renaissance like the smell of "fired" bunny fur wafting on the breeze. (Just kidding; it's all a magic trick... we hope.)

This is our second year doing this festival - formally the Central Florida Pirate Faire - and we're happy to say that the attendance is up. If things keep going at this rate, they'll have to find a new site to support their fan base. I'm guessing this will happen within the next five years. Here's hopin'! This year we're doing three shows a day: Robin Hood, Captain Morgan and the Island Queen, and Swordfighting & Stupidity - the rated "R" show. We've also brought Kevin McDermott (Mr. McDermott from Palooza 1 fame) along with us to run our concessions stand and do that Tortuga Minion-type stuff that he does so well. Yahoo, what a crew!

 

Thank-you, Mr. McDermott

Me with Johnny Phoenix, the Action Hero of Comedy

New Leather Pantalones... Oh joy!

Now onto the leather pants!

Earlier this year, at the Pirates at Port Angeles pirate faire located northeast of Seattle, Washington, we were gifted with three pairs of leather pants for use in our day to day Tortugaing. We met and befriended Reginald and Larkin Hastings of Ravenswood Leather. They are based out of White City, Oregon, though they too travel around the country where they bring leather love to all the naughty boys and girls. Oddly enough, we connected rather quickly, finding that we had much in common. Imagine that - Tortugas getting along with purveyors of leathered goods. Oh, thewicked possibilities! As a result of this friendship, Friday found us leather-clad and hell bent for it. My-my, the comments we got both on and off stage that day. Suffice to say that the fans, they were a-smilin'.

We Tortugas had reason to smile as well. That night, two of our very dear friends, Fritz Karrer and Sarah Beth Leiser, tied the knot at a pirate wedding ceremony in the special events pavilion. We were all grinning from ear to ear, overjoyed to see them finally get married. They had been a couple for ten years running - beaten out by Jef & Sharon (11 years) and followed closely by our friends, Earl & Therese (8 years), and it was wonderful to see them make real what has always been true in their hearts.

(And the crowd goes, "Awwwww.")

 

A Tortuga stand-off!

The new Mr. & Mrs. Karrer... and Earl

Wedding Paparazzi

 

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Another day, another entry. I'm currently sitting in a dentist chair, with a bib around my neck. My mouth is numb, and I've got about five minutes before Dr. Brown comes back in and begins work on my third crown - cracked tooth, don'cha know. Dr. David Brown has been my dentist for quite some time now. He has been instrumental in fixing all my illin' teefus as well as setting up a plan for all the dental work I want done. I'll have some down time between getting my tooth ready for the crown and having the crown attached. It's now only a one-day process. Ooh, the marvels ofmodern dentistry. I'm going to use this free time to work some more on my journal. I am one multi-tasking muther-Tortuga.

 

Dr. Brown: the Smile Maker

I'm A-OK!

See, we do blow our own horns!

As a side note, Dr. Brown made it into one of our shows on Saturday. He and his wife came out to the festival - yes, they are fans - to catch a couple of our shows. I hadn't noticed him yet, when I ran into difficulty trying to pick me a "Robin Hood - my first two selections had turned me down flat. I turned around, desperately looking for what I call a "Johnny Bravo" - taken from the Brady Bunch show were Greg got a gig because he "fit the suit" of the next rock star idol the record company was trying to create. Lo and behold, there was a guy who looked yuppie enough and at about the right size for one of our Robin Hood picks. That's right, he "fit the suit." By the time I took two steps forward, I realized who I was looking at... my dentist. Now, normally we don't like to pick people that we know. It's just too much of a recipe for things going askew - and not in a good way. Either they will try to impress us by one-upping us on stage - never a good idea - or more likely they're so annoyed that we picked them that they clam right up. But, it was too late. The audience had already seen who I was going to pick - though they didn't know who the hell he was - and besides, I had run fresh out of Robin Hoods. I soon found out that I had nothing to worry about. The doc was a natural! He did everything right without overdoing it, and even managed to throw in a couple one-liners of his own without stepping on any of our lines. I made sure to thank him profusely after the show was done.

Yesterday ended the Florida Pirate Festival. Saturday was our best day, with Friday being more or less a "student day" and Sunday turning into a not-so-fantastic day due to some scheduling conflicts. The Festival put us up against the fight show in the morning and the grand finale fire show at night. This was not really conducive to us drawing and keeping a crowd, so instead we sucked it up and rolled with the punches. With smiles on our faces we chatted up what little audience we had, and then sent them on their merry way to see what was left to see.

 

No, I'm the handsomest!

With Jordan - Fan, Friend, and now, new Festival Recruit

With friends Howard and Bert at Sushi Rock in St. Petersburg

On a high note, this did allow us to catch most of the Tampa Bay - Atlanta football game. There was a television set up in the special events tent, and we made a bee-line for it after finishing our only show of the day. Our Buccaneers did us proud by squeaking out enough of a win to put them tied with the Carolina Panthers for first place in our division. Yes, we flitty, flamboyant, tights-wearing Tortugas are all serious about football and especially when it comes to our Tampa Bay Buccaneers!

The next three weekends will bring us back to Hammond, Louisiana and the Louisiana Renaissance Faire. After that, we all head our separate ways with Jef staying in Florida with wife Sharon, Ronn heading to Kansas City, Missouri to spend time with his new girlfriend Heather... and me? Me, I'm flying off to Malaga, Spain to spend six weeks with my birth mother on the Costa del Sol. I'll be there through my birthday, Christmas, New Year's, and my mum's birthday, returning to the States around January 25^th. Not a bad vacation for any of us, and believe me when I say we need it.

Ciao, Tortugaholics! See you somewhere down that renaissance road!